Guinean Bichir
Polypterus ansorgii
The Guinean bichir (Polypterus ansorgii) is a ray-finned fish from rivers and other freshwater habitats in Western Africa, ranging from Guinea-Bissau to Nigeria. It reaches a maximum length of 72 cm (28 in), is greenish-brown to black in color, and has large, dark spots and blotches on its sides. On mature specimens, the bottom jaw may protrude very slightly. It is similar to some other bichirs with which it can be confused.
Named in honor of explorer William John Ansorge (1850-1913), who collected type specimen.
Where it lives
Recorded sightings
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geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
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In the stacks
Searching the stacks…
Every page naming Polypterus ansorgii in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 110002.